Maybe not.
A quick canvass of South Carolina political experts produced the tentative conclusion that Robertson's blessing will register only at the margins, if at all. "The Christian right is always locally autonomous, and they don't take direction from their presumed leaders. I don't think this will signal a mass stampede by the evangelicals to Giuliani," said Danielle Vinson, a political science professor at Furman University.
Maybe.
In limited circumstances -- like the Mitt Romney and Bob Jones III matchup -- endorsements do give voters a permission slip to do what they otherwise want to do. Loyal viewers of Robertson's "700 Club" who militantly oppose abortion and recoil at libertine lifestyles are unlikely to switch to the Catholic thrice-married, publicly cross-dressing, pro-abortion rights Giuliani. But conservatives already strongly attracted to the former New York mayor's toughness and 9/11 allure might put their qualms about abortion aside because of Robertson's imprimatur.
Maybe not.
As McCain discovered when his efforts to woo the late Jerry Falwell compromised his maverick reputation among independent voters, Giuliani does run a risk in secular New Hampshire of appearing too nakedly political in his effort to stake out common ground with Robertson. There is also the possibility that fear of a rampaging Rudy could eclipse the horror of Hillary among right-wing religious voters. As Woodard, the Clemson political scientist, put it, "This endorsement might also galvanize the social-issue conservatives to ramp up their efforts to stop him."
That's Walter Schapiro at Salon, assessing the earth-shattering notion that the frail and passé Pat Robertson might rocket Giuliani into the presidency.
Reporters at McClatchy have a more excited reaction. "Social conservatives fracture," the headline declares, "as Robertson endorses Giuliani." Robertson's blessing, they write is "a surprising embrace that underscored the divisions among Christian conservatives about the field of candidates for the Republican presidential nomination."
Fracture? Divisions? Aren't we a little tired of that?
